You
can access additional commands and options in the Tabs panel menu.
To use this menu, click the triangle in the upper right corner of
the panel.

Align the Tabs panel with a selected
type object

You can position the Tabs panel anywhere in
the work area; however, it is usually helpful to align the Tabs
panel with a type object.

Click the magnet icon . The
Tabs panel moves directly above the selected text object, with the
zero point aligned with the left margin. If necessary, you can drag
the resize button at the lower right corner of the panel to expand
or reduce the ruler.

Snap tab stops to the ruler units

By default, you can position tab stops anywhere
along the tab ruler.

Choose Snap To Unit from the panel menu or hold
down Shift as you drag a tab stop.

Change the units of measure for
the tab ruler

The units of measure for the tab ruler are
defined by the General units settings specified in the Units preferences
(for all files) or by the units specified in the Document
Setupdialog box (for the current file).

To change the units of measure for all
files, specify a new value for General Units in the Units preferences.

To change the units of measure for the current file,
specify a new units value in the Document Setup dialog
box.

Set tabs

Tab
stops apply to an entire paragraph. When you set the first tab,
Illustrator deletes all default tab stops to the left of that stop.
As you set more tab stops, Illustrator deletes all default tabs
between the tabs you set.

Insert the cursor in a paragraph, or select a
type object to set tab stops for all paragraphs in the object.

In the Tabs panel, click a tab-alignment button to specify
how text aligns relative to the tab’s position:

Left-Justified Tab

to align horizontal text to the left, keeping the right
margin ragged.

Center-Justified Tab

to center text on the tab mark.

Right-Justified Tab

to align horizontal text to the right, keeping the left
margin ragged.

Bottom-Justified Tab

to align vertical text to the bottom margin, keeping
the top margin ragged.

Top-Justified Tab

to align vertical text to the top margin, keeping the
bottom margin ragged.

Decimal-Justified Tab

to place text in alignment with a specified character, such
as a period or a dollar sign. This option is useful for creating
columns of numbers.

You can change the alignment of any tab by simply selecting
it and clicking one of these buttons.

Do one of the following:

Click a location on the tab ruler to position
a new tab stop.

Type a position in the X box (for horizontal text)
or Y box (for vertical text), and press Enter or Return.
If the X or Y value is selected, press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow
key to increase or decrease the tab value by 1 point, respectively.

note: When
you use the tab ruler, you cannot set tab stops in increments smaller than
1. However, if you specify a position in the X or Y box, you can
set stops at intervals as small as 0.01 point.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 to add additional tab stops.

Note:

For information on setting indents using the Tabs
panel, see Indent
text.

Repeat tabs

The Repeat Tab command creates multiple
tabs based on the distance between the tab and the left indent or
the previous tab stop.

Click an insertion point in the paragraph.

In the Tabs panel, select a tab stop on the ruler.

Choose Repeat Tab from the panel menu.

Repeated tabs

A. Tab-alignment buttons B. Tab stop
on the ruler C. Panel menu

Move tabs

In
the Tabs panel, select a tab stop on the ruler.

Do one of the following:

Type a new location in the X box (for horizontal
text) or Y box (for vertical text), and press Enter or Return.